What Once Was Reality
by x0-vindicated-0x
Summary: Everything in life holds a unique set of consequences. What happens when Casey decides to tell Derek the truth about the basis of their relationship, the secret she's kept inside for five years? Twoshot fic to BCWYWF & ToP Dasey
1. Truth and Consequences

**This is part one of the two-shot that some of you wanted! It's not a multi-chapter, it is, indeed, a two shot. But I do have two multi-chapter stories in the works that should be up soon! So be on the lookout for those! This fic IS a twoshot fic related to Be Careful What You Wish For and A Taste of Perfection, so if you haven't read those, I suggest you do so before reading any further. Feel free to read it by itself, but you might not have a clue what you're reading, because I wouldn't. :) Anyway, read on! **

**Disclaimer: I have not owned anything so far, and I really don't think much has changed in regards to that. **

**Part One: Truth and Consequences**

Darkness seemed to envelope the city of Toronto like a blanket. For as far as Casey MacDonald, soon to be Venturi, could see, streetlights had flickered off, buildings looked completely abandoned, and the only bit of light that was visible was the headlights of the occasional car that drove cautiously down the road, their visibility limited by the absence of the usual streetlights. Casey pressed her forehead against the cool glass, overlooking the city from the comfort of the apartment that she had shared with her boyfriend, Derek, for about four years now.

"Mmm, what are you doing?" came a voice from behind her. A moment later she felt strong arms wrap around her waist, and a chin come to rest on her shoulder. She turned her head to kiss Derek on the cheek. Turning back to the window, she sighed.

"I'm just waiting to see if the power is going to come back on." she explained, annoyed. "It's been gone for what, four hours now?"

"Casey, it's been gone for forty five minutes." Derek corrected her, rolling his eyes. "Just because you're missing the season premiere of-"

"-don't say it!" Casey begged, covering her ears with her hands. Derek smirked.

"Desperate Housewives!" he cried into her ear, making sure that she heard him. She groaned and elbowed him in the stomach.

"You're cruel, you know that, right?" she asked, pulling out of his grasp and using her flashlight to find her way to the couch. She plopped down on it, but before she got a chance to make herself comfortable, Derek had landed right next to her. He smirked at her.

"It's my job to say mean things to you," he explained, placing a hand on her thigh. "I'm your boyfriend. It's in the job description."

"Along with putting a user lock on my cellphone and not telling me the password?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she remembered last week's incident. He grinned.

"_Exactly_!" he agreed, nodding. He gave her a shoulder shove. "See, you're catching on!"

"Mmm, and I suppose I should be grateful to have such an _amazing_ boyfriend such as yourself?" she asked knowingly, watching as he basked in the glow of getting under her skin.

"You should be." he said with a shrug.

"Fine," she said, a thought occuring to her. "Oh, and by the way, Romeo, I don't suppose you happened to remember that the hockey playoffs are on tonight too."

This got Derek's attention. Within a moment, he'd jumped up, feeling around aimlessly in the dark for the TV guide. When even the flashlight didn't help him, he turned to Casey, panic written across his features.

"When is it on?" he asked desperately, gripping her shoulders. He didn't even give her a chance to answer. "_When,_ woman? _When_?"

Casey grinned, knowing that she had just gotten even with him. She tried her best not to laugh as she began to speak.

"Point A, never refer to me as _'woman'_." she said sternly, narrowing her eyes at him. He muttered a quick 'sorry' and motioned for her to continue. "And as for your precious hockey game, it started about, oh, I don't know, a half an hour ago?"

In the dim light of the flashlight, Casey could see Derek pale, and he covered his face with his hands.

"No, no, no, no, _NO_!" he muttered under his breath. He turned to Casey. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Casey raised an eyebrow at him and pulled her best thinking face.

"How about you, oh, humor me, spend a nice evening with your fiancé?" she asked suggestively, gasping in mock surprise. He blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry, is that too much to ask? Would you rather watch your hockey game?"

Derek smiled at her.

"Thanks for understanding, hon." he said, patting her on the back. She rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air.

"I give up." she said in frustration. "You're impossible to get along with. It's pitch black here, there's no power, and I'm _bored_! Entertain me!"

Derek raised an eyebrow, leaning over and placing an arm on either side of her body, pinning her in. He leaned his face in until their noses were almost touching.

"I can do that." he whispered with a hopeful smirk on his face. She rolled her eyes and smacked his chest, making him back up a bit. He rubbed the place where she'd hit him and pouted.

"What the _hell_ was that for?" he asked, pretending to be hurt. "I was only-"

"-being a guy." she finished for him. He opened his mouth to argue, but then shrugged and leaned back against the couch again. He gave an impatient sigh, clearly just as bored as she was.

"What do you want to do?" she asked him, turning to face him. He raised an eyebrow suggestively and she glared at him. "_Besides_ that, Derek."

He reached out and laced his fingers through hers, examining their hands carefully. He bit his lip as he racked his brain for an idea. Casey had to smile. He looked absolutely adorable when he was actually thinking. He looked up at her, his eyes lit up.

"We're going to play the Truth or Dare, without the dare." he said, grinning at her. "It's too dark to try and do anything. And you only get to pass on one question; no more."

Casey was hit with instant deja vu as she remembered playing Twenty Questions, a very similar game, with Derek during a power outage in her wish world. She shook off the peculiar feeling and turned back to him, giving a careless shrug.

"Alright, I'm in." she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. "It was your idea, so you ask the first question."

Derek frowned.

"Shouldn't _you_ have to be the one to go first, considering the fact that I thought up the activity?"

Casey stared at him and blinked a couple of times. He slumped his shoulders in defeat.

"Alright, fine." he grumbled, tilting his head back as he tried to think of a question. It only took a few seconds before one came to his mind, and he looked back down at her.

"You remember that time when I got voted school prefect?" he asked, making sure she remembered. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Vividly." she grumbled, still sore about the principal's lack of judgement. "What about it?"

"You remember how I snuck D-Rock into the cafeteria for a practice?" he asked; but he didn't want for an answer. "When I was up on the stage with the guys .. were you checking me out?"

There was a knowing smirk on his face, and she looked up at him, annoyed. She hit his shoulder lightly.

"Can I pass on that question?" she asked, a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Please?"

"You can, but just remember that this is _me _you're playing with here; you never know what sort of question I'll ask next." he reminded her with an evil smile. "The next question could be twenty times worse. Besides, it's not like I can't already tell the answer by the look on your face right now."

She was going to argue, but then she realized that he was probably right. She shouldn't pass on a question that he already knew the answer to when he was known to ask some pretty annoying questions. Turning to him, she tried not to smile.

"Fine, I was, okay?" she said, causing his face to break out into a grin. "Are you happy now?"

Derek nodded, letting out a small laugh.

"Yeah, I'd have to say I am." he said, the smile never leaving his face. "And apparantly hot; but of course I already knew that."

"Ugh, you disgust me." she said, shaking her head at him. "Anyway, I'm just going to ask my question before you call off our engagement and decide to marry yourself."

"Is that legal?" he asked. She could only hope that the curiousity in his voice wasn't genuine. Sighing, she shook her head and stared at her hands, trying to think of a question.

"Alright, I've got one." she said, looking up at him. He didn't say anything, but he motioned for her to continue. She took a deep breath. "Did you purposely teach me football all wrong just so I would mess up with Max?" she asked, already knowing the answer. He laughed and nodded.

"Der-ek!" she said, slapping his knee. His eyes widened and he threw his hands up in the air.

"Would you stop it with the hitting?" he asked, though she knew that he enjoyed getting a rise out of her. "And besides, aren't you glad that things with Max didn't work out?"

"Yeah, but still." she grumbled. She was going to say more, but he moved on to his next question. They played back and forth for over an hour, asking each other the stupidest of things, and the most serious of questions you could think of. Finally, Derek asked one that really stumped Casey.

"What made you kiss me that night in the park?" he asked, not noticing her whole body tense up. "I don't want that 'I just did' bullshit that you usually give me, I want you to tell me the truth. We've been together five years now and you still haven't told me. I know there's more to it than you let on, and I feel like I deserve to know; I_ am_ marrying you, after all."

"I'm going to pass on that question." she said quickly, relieved that she didn't have to answer to him. She was surprised when a triumphant smile appeared on his face and he shook his head at her.

"Sorry, my little Space Case, but you already passed on question number nineteen." he said, as though reciting the sentence from a book. "I believe the question at hand was what would you do if I showed up to our wedding in girl's clothing? You said you shouldn't have to answer such a stupid question, and took a pass. This is why I left this particular question for so late in the game; because I knew you would have passed on something already. And you did. You wouldn't answer number nineteen."

"Fine, I'll answer that one; I'd disown you, happy?" she said, shaking a little out of fear. She really didn't want to answer that question. He seemed to notice this, and his face stiffened with worry.

"Casey, what is it?" he asked, not joking anymore. "You can tell me anything, baby, I swear. Are you not telling me because you think I'll get mad at you for it? Because I really don't care; it's in the past. I just want to know."

"It's not that I think you'll get mad, Derek." she said quietly, staring at the floor.

_'It's that you'll think I've gone mad.' _she thought to herself sadly.

All of his humorous intentions were gone as he reached over and brushed a hand gently against her cheek, trying to get her to look at him. She wouldn't even let her gaze wander anywhere near him.

"Hey, come on, Case, look at me." he pleaded, his voice gentle. Reluctantly, she did, and he offered her a small smile, which she forced herself to return. "That's better," he said, his hand still on her cheek. He let it trail up and tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. "Please, just tell me. It clearly bothers you, and I don't like that. Maybe if you talk about it with me, it'll make it better."

"I don't think so." she said, shaking her head. She knew that if she told Derek about the wish, he'd think she was gone mental. She pictured the look that he would give her if she were to explain everything to him, and she shook her head again. "It wouldn't help at all."

"You never know, it might." Derek said with a shrug. Casey looked up at him, finally allowing her gaze to meet his, and she was startled when she saw that he looked almost desperate for the truth.

"Casey, please." he got out, choking over his own words. "Just tell me the truth."

She looked away frrom him and thought over what she could possibly tell him. She could lie, but there was a pretty good chance that he'd see that in her eyes, like he always did, and besides, she'd feel bad if she lied to them about something as important as their entire relationship. She knew she had to tell the truth; but how? Taking a shaky breath, she slowly met his gaze again and prepared to tell him the truth.

"You do remember the phone conversation that we had that night, don't you?" she asked, chewing on her bottom lip nervously as he nodded.

"Of course I do." he said, frowning at the memory, but there was a spark in his eyes that Casey knew was because she was actually telling him. "I remember it because you were yelling at me, and you said that you-"

"-wished I never met you, exactly." Casey said, finding herself nervous saying anything relating to the wish. She was half afraid that if she said anything close to the exact words, she would find herself back in her alternate universe where Derek was gone and she was constantly being harassed by Shane. Thinking of the way the alternate universe had turned out, she cringed, and Derek placed a comforting hand on her arm.

"You okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned. She nodded.

"I'm fine but .. well, remember how I also said that I wished our parents had never met each other?"

"Yeah?" Derek asked, clearly not understanding where this was going. "What about it?"

Casey was silent for a moment, afraid to even finish explaining this to him. He was going to think she was mental, she just knew it . But she knew that he'd be angry if she stopped now, and besides, he deserved to know the truth.

"When I made that wish, something happened." she said, her body still shaking nervously. Derek bit his lip, but didn't say anything. She took that as her cue to continue. Looking him right in the eye, she said the one thing that she had been keeping inside for five years now.

"When I made the wish, it came true." she said, not tearing her gaze away from his. "I went home only to find that you and your family had no clue who I was. I found out that I was living back in Toronto with my mother and Lizzie, and you were living in London with your family. We'd never met."

Silence filled the room, and neither one of them spoke. Casey waited nervously for Derek to say something, but he just stared at her with no emotion on his face whatsoever. Just when she was about to ask him what he was thinking, he burst out laughing, leaning forwards and placing a hand on his knee to support him.

"Good one, Casey." he said, still laughing. "I almost believed you that time. You really should consider being in one of my film projects; I always told you you'd make a good actress, and now I have proof."

Casey wasn't surprised that he didn't believe her. She could remember that her initial reaction to the situation had been disbelief as well. She had considered this as a possible reaction, and now she just had to try and convince him otherwise.

"Derek, I'm telling the truth." she said without a hint of a smile on her face. He grinned and nodded, his expression clearly showing that he didn't believe a word of what was coming out of her mouth.

"Yeah, sure Case, whatever you say." he laughed. "At least I know I'm marrying a woman with a good sense of humor; you're hilarious. Now come on, tell me the real reason."

"That is the real reason, Derek." she said quietly, looking away from him. She had no clue how she was supposed to make him believe her. If it wasn't for the fact that she'd lived through it, she wouldn't believe it herself. Derek sighed.

"Come on, Casey." he said, the corners of his mouth still turned up in a half smile. "How stupid do you think I am; really?"

"Derek, you know when I'm lying." she said, still not cracking a smile. She looked him straight in the eye. "Look at me."

He was still smiling, but she gripped his chin tightly, making sure that he was looking right at her. He looked her right in the eye.

"Look at my eyes Derek, does it look like I'm lying or fooling around?" she asked, her voice wavering on every note. "I'm not a good liar, and you know that better than anyone else. I'm telling you the truth. If you look hard enough, you'll see that."

Derek was silent as his eyes scanned the both of hers nervously. The smile faded slowly from his face, being replaced by a serious expression.

"C-Casey?" he stammered, as she lowered her hand from his chin. He gulped nervously. "Casey, stop it, alright? You're scaring me. You freaked me out, okay? Is that what you wanted? J-Just stop it."

"You wanted to know the truth, and I gave it to you." she said, shrugging. She could see that she was making some progress with him, at least. He seemed to realize now that this wasn't intended to be funny, but now he seemed to think that she was doing it to freak him out.

"Derek, I wouldn't lie about this, trust me. It happened. I spent two weeks living in an alternate universe where you were never my stepbrother, our parents hadn't met, and you had never met me before in your life."

"Have you been smoking something?" he asked, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Are you like, stoned out of your mind right now?"

"I'm not high, and before you ask, I'm not drunk either." she said, shaking her head. She tried to sound as calm as possible, but her voice was shaking with uncertainty, and she knew it . "I'm telling you that this is the truth, and I can only hope you'll believe that. I don't know how or why it happened, Derek, but it did. I swear it did."

Derek was scanning her fearfully, yet still taking in every word she said. After a moment, he shook his head opposingly, and shifted away from her a bit as though she had something contagious.

"You're crazy." he decided, his body visibly shaking. "You don't even know what you're talking about."

At this point, Casey started to panic. She had known, of course, that Derek wouldn't exactly believe her, and that he may think she was a bit mental, but she didn't expect him to turn on her completely and label her as insane. She placed a hand over his, but he yanked his hand back as though her touch had burned. She cringed.

"Derek, come on." she pleaded. "Please, don't do this."

"You're stoned." he said again, apparantly deciding that thsi was the only possible excuse for her behavior. "You're fucking high, or drunk, or something; and if you're not, then you're just plain crazy."

"I haven't ruled out that possibility." she shrugged, but then she reminded herself that the alternate universe had to have happened for her to know who Terra and Shane were when she had never even met them.

"Dammit, Casey." he said, standing up and backing away slowly. "You need help."

"Derek," she begged, her eyes filling with tears as he backed away from her slowly. She stood up and took a step towards him, and he sped up his own pace, knocking over a picture frame as he struggled to get away from her as fast as possible. "Derek, come on. Please, talk to me."

"Get away from me!" he said, shaking his head at her. With that said, he turned and grabbed his jacket, racing out the front door. She felt like calling after him, but she knew that it wouldn't do her any good. He was a fast runner, and even if she could catch up to him, he wouldn't want to talk to her.

She ran into their bedroom and flung herself onto the bed, crying uncontrollably into the pillow. Who was she to think that maybe, just maybe, Derek would have believed her? _Nobody_ would ever believe what had happened to her, and she was stupid to think that they would. Maybe Derek was right. Maybe she really was crazy. That didn't explain how she had known about Terra and Shane, of course, but the truth made no sense either.

Looking up, she spotted a picture of her and Derek sitting on the bedside table. Reaching out, she picked it up and looked at it, smiling at the memory . The picture had been taken the day that they had moved into their new apartment, by Nora. They had been standing up by their living room window, the one that Casey had been standing in only an hour before, and Derek had his arms wrapped around Casey's waist. Her hands had been resting on top of his, and his chin had been sitting on her shoulder. Her head was leaning against his, and they were both smiling. She loved that picture. She only realized now how much younger they looked there. Derek's hair was longer then, and her's had been darker. Their faces had changed a little bit, although not much, and they had both gotten a little bit taller. She supposed that they didn't look too different, but if you didn't know them personally, you would definitly say that they had changed.

She hugged the picture to her chest and rolled over onto her side, staring at the wall. She had to wonder where Derek had gone, and if he was even planning on coming back. She wasn't so sure that she would be able to handle it if he didn't, but she knew that it was a distinct possibilty. There was no point in calling his cellphone either, because he just wouldn't answer it. Feeling like the world's biggest idiot, she closed her eyes, and attempted to cried herself to sleep, praying that when she woke up, Derek would be there.

* * *

**Before you all request for Derek's head on a stick, just put yourself in his situation. How would you have reacted to something like this, honestly? You probably wouldn't have immediately accepted it. He can be a good guy, but he can't accept something like that right away. Nobody could. And this is NOT the end of it, haha, there's one more part. Part Two is almost complete, and should be up soon. But it'll come faster with lots of reviews, so there's a hint:) Review, my friends. **


	2. Explanations and Lessons

**So I was definitly mad when Fanfiction was messing up for me earlier, but that could have been my computer. I can never tell the difference ! Anyway, here's part two! So this is sort of long, but I really didn't feel like splitting it into three parts, and I'm sure you guys don't mind having it all at once:) Review!!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Part Two: Explanations and Lessons**

Casey never did fall asleep. She had way too much on her mind to even attempt getting any rest. The power had been restored about an hour after Derek left, and the light above her was on, but she couldn't bring herself to get up and turn it off.

Almost two hours after Derek had left, she heard the front door open, and she could hear Derek walking around in the living room, clearly wondering where she had gone. She heard the footsteps make their way into the kitchen, and then there was the unmistakeable sound of bags being placed on top of the kitchen table. There was silence for a moment, and she knew that Derek was probably standing in one spot, looking around him and expecting her to pop up from out of nowhere. Finally, he seemed to realize that she wasn't around.

"Case?" she heard him call out, a definite note of panic in his voice. "Casey, are you still here?"

She couldn't bring herself to answer him. She wanted to, but when she tried to open her mouth to get let him know that she was okay, nothing came out. She could tell that he was worried about her by the way he said her name, almost as though he was scared that she had left. A moment later, he appeared in the doorway, his face a bit red with windburn. He seemed to relax a bit when he saw that she was still there; but only seconds after he had entered the room, Casey turned away, burying her face into the pillow beside her. She was still clinging helplessly to the picture of her and Derek, almost as though it were a lifeline.

"Casey?" Derek tried again, taking a couple of steps towards her, but stopping at the foot of the bed. She didn't respond, but this time, it was because she chose not to. If she did, Derek would know that she was crying, and she didn't want to come off as more psychotic than he already thought she was. "Baby, you okay?"

There was a pause in which Derek did not speak, and Casey kept her face hidden from him.

"If I told you that I was willing to hear you out, would you explain it to me?" he asked, almost embarassed. She allowed herself to lift her head off of the pillow enough to glance over at him. He wasn't looking at her, luckily, and did not even notice her looking over at him. She put her head back down against the pillow, not wanting to answer him. A moment later, she felt the mattress sink a bit as Derek sat down next to her, running a hand through her hair and down over her back, where he began to rub small comforting circles to try and soothe her.

"Casey?" he asked for what felt like the hundreth time. "Just explain it to me. I need you to explain it to me."

"You needed me to tell you in the first place, and look how that turned out!" she snapped bitterly, lifting her tear stained face from the pillow. Upon seeing that she was crying, Derek cringed, knowing that he had caused that. He leaned down and took the picture frame from her arms, standing it up in it's proper spot on the nightstand. He looked down at her, before leaning down and kissing her temple softly. She looked up at him, her face determined and her eyes lost and confused.

"I'm not crazy, Derek, I'm not." she said, her voice shaking with every word she said. "I know it doesn't seem possible, but it happened; I swear it happened."

Derek didn't answer, and she could tell that he didn't believe her. He bit his lip and studied her carefully, his hand still rubbing her back. She felt herself grow angry as he gave her that pitying look. She didn't want Derek's pity; she wanted Derek to believe what she was telling him.

"I told you the truth, and now you're going to leave me because of it." she said brokenly. His body stiffened against hers and he paled.

"I'm .. _what_?" he sputtered, his voice shaky. "Is that what you think?"

Instead of answering, she gave a small nod and held his gaze. He softened then, pulling her closer towards him. He kissed her forehead once, before leaning back and offering her a faint smile.

"Casey, I'm not leaving you," he assured her, his voice determined. "I don't know where you got that idea, but I'd never leave you. I love you, okay?"

Although she was not totally assured by what he had just said, his words did give her the willpower to at least try to explain everything to him. Summoning up all of her courage, she pulled herself into a sitting position, hugging her knees to her chest tightly and wiping away a few tears, trying to regain some control.

"I wouldn't lie about this, Derek." she said, finally managing to force some confidence into her voice. "I know it's a lot to take in, but this is the truth, and I hope you can accept it."

"Casey, it was just a .. a dream or something." he assured her uncertainly, using his thumb to wipe away the rest of her tears. "You were just dreaming, it couldn't have been real."

Casey shook her head, trying not to lose patience with him.

"It wasn't a dream, Derek." she argued confidently. "You don't understand. If it was just a dream, how did it last so long?"

"Dreams can last a pretty long time." he shrugged, clearly taking every exit he could find in his mind, rather than face the truth. "I'm sure it's happened to people before."

"Well maybe, but I don't think that people can remember every detail of their dreams five years later. And besides, I wouldn't have fallen asleep on a park bench." she pointed out. He squinted at her, clearly at a loss for words.

"Trust me, I can remember every detail of what happened like it was yesterday. I'm never going to forget it. It happened. And I .. I have proof." she said suddenly, realizing that she could use some of the information she had about him, and about Terra and Shane, to prove her point.

"Proof?" Derek asked, clearly surprised. "What sort of proof?"

"Terra, for starters." she said, a hopeful edge creeping into her voice. "I met Terra in that world. How do you explain _that_?"

Derek looked doubtful, and he gave her that same pitying expression that he had moments before, as though he thought that she really was going crazy and just couldn't see it; like he felt bad for her.

"Don't give me that look, Derek." she said bitterly, shaking her head at him. "I know what I'm talking about. Do you remember how when we first met her, I always managed to know something about her that she couldn't remember telling me in the first place?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"And do you remember how Terra always said she felt like she had known me for a long time?"

"Sure, but-"

"And what about Shane?" she said, realizing that she wasn't giving Derek a chance to get out more than three words at a time. This time, however, he didn't answer right away. His mouth hung open in the aftermath of his last sentence, and his face darkened as he closed it, his jaw visibly stiffening.

"Shane who?" he asked, sounding as though he already knew. She looked away quickly. "Shane Wilder? As in massive, angry, 'isn't pain fun?' Shane Wilder?"

"Yeah, that Shane." she said quietly, shaking as she remembered how violent he always was.

"But, you.. you said that you knew him .. b-before you even knew me." Derek stammered, not taking his eyes off of her.

"I lied." she said with a shrug, praying that he wouldn't get mad at her for it. Derek's face scrunched up in confusion and he placed his head in his hands as though he was trying to think of logical reasoning behind all of this. Just to break the silence, Casey rushed on.

"I had never even heard of Shane before that wish happened, Derek." she explained. "And then I found out that he was my .. my boyfriend."

"He was your _what_?" Derek asked, his head snapping up instantly. "Casey? _Casey_, answer me. _What _did you say he was?"

"Ex-boyfriend, actually." she murmered, blushing. For someone who didn't believe a word of what she was saying, Derek sure looked jealous.

"_Stop it_, Casey." he said, narrowing his eyes at her. "This isn't even funny anymore."

"It wasn't funny to begin with," she said quietly, avoiding the glare that he was shooting at her. "It was never supposed to be funny."

Derek rubbed his temple, clearly frustrated with this whole situation. He blew out a long, patient breath, and turned back to Casey, trying to stay calm.

"Tell me what you know about Shane Wilder, and _maybe_ I'll believe you." he said, looking the tiniest bit hopeful. "I'd ask you to tell me about Terra, but you know her here too, so it wouldn't be fair."

Casey thought back to the Shane Wilder that she had met. What _did _she know about that guy? She didn't know a whole lot, but she knew a couple of key things about him.

"I know that he's in your grade, and that you guys have been enemies since you played each other in the championship game the year before I met you." she started, trying desperately to add as much detail as she possibly could. "I know that he is very controlling over his girlfriends, and-"

"I told you that." Derek interrupted, the hope fading from his face instantly. She shook her head.

"I already knew." she argued, ignoring the fact that he was glaring at her. "And do you want to know how I knew? Because I was his girlfriend in that world."

"You were never his damn girlfriend, because I _never _would have allowed it; in any world." Derek snapped, shaking with anger. "I would have never let him come within five feet of you."

"You weren't there, Derek." she reminded him with a sad smile. "When my wish became effective, I started life at the exact same moment in time as it had been in the real world. The only difference was that my life had turned into what would have happened if our parents had never gotten married."

"This is insane." Derek muttered, rubbing his forehead. She stared at him for a moment, and he looked at her from between his fingers. He sighed. "Go on, continue your story . What were you saying about Shane?"

Casey took a deep breath, knowing that she at least had him interested. That was a start.

"When I got there, me and Shane had already broken up." she explained, trying to get everything right. "Apparantly, we were on again, off again all the time. Terra told me that I always dated other guys in between, but that he never beat on any of these guys unless he thought that they were a real threat to him."

"I don't see how I play into all of this." Derek said, looking confused. "How did this .. this .. _'wish' _, as you call it, make you realize that you had feelings for me?"

"I was getting there, if you'd let me speak." she said, annoyed by his lack of patience. He scowled, but fell silent once more, willing to hear her out. "Anyway, oddly enough, the first person I met when I got there was _you_. I thought you were playing some sort of joke on me, so you're not the only one who found this hard to believe. But once I accepted that it really was happening, I started hanging out with you a bit."

"Why?" Derek asked, remembering that she had supposedly hated him before this whole ordeal. She shrugged, blushing a bit.

"You asked me to, and I was sort of curious to see how your life had turned out without us MacDonalds around." she explained. He quickly accepted this answer and motioned for her to continue.

"Anyway, to make a long story short, you told me you liked me, and I basically shot you down."

"You _rejected _me?" Derek asked, looking somewhat hurt. "Why did you do that? I thought you liked me."

"I did." she said quickly, trying to reassure him. "It's just that .. I wasn't aware of it. I was trying to deny the fact that I had feelings for you because I knew that if I ever got back home, you'd just be my stepbrother again, and I wasn't really sure if you'd still like me. And that would have hurt too much."

"But I _did _like you." he said with a smile. She raised an eyebrow, and he quickly added; "-and of course, I still do."

She had a rather amused smile on her face, and he sighed, running a hand through his hair again.

"Go on." he said, realizing that he may just be better off staying quiet. "How did I react to you turning me down?"

"Like a guy," she said, rolling her eyes. "You completely shut me out for a few days. You wouldn't call me, you wouldn't return my calls, you got Edwin to cover for you whenever I _did _call you. It was basically a repeat of yours and Kendras breakup."

"So what happened; what did I do to get you to change your mind?" he asked, genuinely interested now. He frowned and shook his head as though trying to get rid of a bad thought. "Wow; that sounded weird."

Casey sighed and continued with her story.

"Basically, I called you and told you that I wanted to give you a chance, and we went on a date." she said, taking him carefully through the events all the way to the very last day when he had asked her to be his girlfriend.

"So you said yes." he noted, nodding. He looked back up at her and noticed that she was carefully avoiding his gaze. He frowned. "Casey, there's something you're leaving out here. I know there's something you purposely skipped over. What is it?"

"Nothing," she said, a little too quickly for Derek's liking. She frowned. "It's nothing that you need to know about, alright?"

"_Casey!_" Derek scolded , gripping her chin and tilting it back up towards him. She looked into his eyes reluctantly, and he softened upon seeing that there was fear in her eyes. His voice dropped down to almost a whisper, and he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, letting his hand rest on her neck. He offered her a tiny smile.

"Come on, Casey." he said softly, shifting a little bit closer to her. "What could possibly be so bad that-"

"You're so amazing." she cut him off, out of nowhere. "I'm sitting here and thinking about how terrible Shane treated me, and then I look at you, and you're just .. wow."

"What do you mean, 'the way he treated you'?" Derek asked, ignoring a compliment for what could have been the first time in his life. She looked away, but he gripped her chin again. She forced herself to look into his eyes, which were filled with anger, and concern at the same time.

"What the _hell _did he do to you?" Derek asked, his voice filled with hate and laced with ice. She didn't answer. "Casey, you tell me _right now _what he did to you."

Casey knew that Derek was _not _going to be happy when she told him about the way Shane had treated her.

"He would yell at me a lot, for starters." she said with a shrug. Derek's jaw tightened, and she cringed. If he didn't like the yelling, he definitly wouldn't like what was coming next. "He'd try to control my whole life, and he didn't want me to be around you. And he was known to .. to hit me, but he only hit me once when I was there."

"He _what_?" Derek yelled, letting go of Casey's chin and gripping her shoulder. "Casey look at me. What the hell did you just say?"

She didn't answer.

"Did you say he _hit _you?" Derek asked, clearly enraged by this piece of information. Casey nodded.

"It was only once, but Terra told me that he had done it before." she explained, praying that he would calm down. Unfortunatly, she had no such luck, and he let out a low growl.

"I don't care how many damn times he did it." he got out, his hands clenched tightly into fists. "If someone lays one god damn finger on you, they're asking for it."

"It's not like it's going to happen again, Derek." she reminded him, placing a hand on his elbow in an attempt to calm him. He jumped at the contact, as though he had forgotten that Casey was even in the room, but once he realized that it was only Casey touching him, he then went right back to flipping out .

"You're damn _right_ it won't happen again because I'm going to beat his fucking face in." Derek growled, standing up and moving towards the door. Casey, panicking, jumped up and raced after him, grabbing him by the arm and turning him around. He looked to the side, his face dark and troubled.

"You can't do that, Der." she said softly, running one hand up through his hair.

"I want to fucking kill him." he muttered, trying to free himself from Casey's grasp. He struggled against her, but in the end, she had managed to pin him up against the door. His chest was heaving angrily, and he was panting for air, his struggle with Casey combined with his anger proving to be too much on him.

"D-Derek you can't touch him, okay?" she begged him, remembering what the outcome of Derek's last protective attack had been like. She bit her lip and locked her gaze with his. "Please, just don't go after him."

Derek studied her curiously for a moment, confusion etched across his face boldly.

"Why don't you want me to go after Shane?" he asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow. "It's almost like you want to protect him."

"I want to protect _you_." she yelled at him, feeling a lump rising at the back of her throat. She was going to keep Derek inside, at all costs. She didn't want to chance him going anywhere near Shane, if there was even the slightest possibility of it turning out like it had the last time. Everybody that knew them knew that if somebody brought a tear to Derek Venturi's girlfriend's eyes, they'd pay more than reasonably. This, however, was one time that she didn't want to allow him to seek revenge on an attacker.

"You can't just go up to him and start beating him up for something that, to his knowledge, didn't happen. "

"But it _did _happen, and I know that." Derek whined, sounding desperate. "How the hell can I just let him go, knowing that he _hurt _you?"

"I know your intentions are sweet, Derek." she said, remembering just how much he had sacrificed to help her the last time around. "I don't want you getting hurt over something that doesn't even matter anymore."

"It _does _matter." Derek tried to argue. "It matters to me. Besides, after living with _you _for the past few years, I think I can handle the 'big, bad Shane'." he added, giving an amused laugh. Casey fell silent and let her hands press against his chest. She tore her eyes away from his and stared at the floor, biting down on her lip. Derek seemed to notice this, because the amusement on his face died away instantly, and he frowned.

"Casey?" he asked, tilting his head down to try and look at her, but she turned away from him completely and walked towards the window, willing herself not to cry. She didn't want to tell him the rest. She wasn't sure if she could even s_ay _the rest. She had never had to say the words aloud since she had told Terra what had happened, right before she got back. She didn't even think Derek really believed her at this point. All he really seemed to be registering was that Casey was saying someone had hurt her. She was pretty sure that he had forgotten that he didn't believe in her wish All he seemed to care about was subsiding Casey's fear and kicking Shane's ass. Clearly, he wasn't thinking logically at the time. Nonetheless, Derek crossed the room and stood next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. The second he felt her shoulders shaking, he knew she was crying.

"Stop crying, Case." he said, not harshly, but almost pleadingly. He hated seeing her cry, and she knew that, but she couldn't help it. He pulled her tighter to him and kissed the top of her head. "Why are you crying?'' he asked her, his face still buried into her hair.

It took every ounce of Casey's courage not to turn and run from the room, just to avoid answering his question. But somehow, she managed to turn in his hold, so that his arm was now wrapped around her back. He shifted so that both of his arms were around her waist, and she reached up, wrapping a strand of his light brown hair around her index finger. She let it unravel itself, and she watched it fall back down against his forehead, before she managed to look him in the eye again. She could see concern flicking through his eyes, and she knew she had to confess everything. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to finish what she had waited five years to tell him.

"It was so messed up, Derek." she said, her voice shaking on every note. "Everything was going so great and then, I lost everything."

Derek's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, and he tilted his head at her. She knew that it was best to get it all out in one go, so she continued as fast as she could. "The night that me and you started going out, Shane called me and told me that his friend had seen us together at the park. To make a long story short, he threatened both of us, and hung up."

"Go on." Derek said slowly, clearly not understanding where this was going.

"I called you and told you what he had done; you know, how he had threatened us, and you made me promise to stay inside." she explained, finding herself holding onto Derek tighter, almost as though she couldn't believe that he was really with her. "I promised you, but before I could say anything else, you told me that you'd call me later, and hung up."

"Let me guess, I went after Shane, right?" Derek asked, raising an eyebrow knowingly. Casey nodded, looking a bit flustered. Derek understood that she was a bit confused at his guess, and sighed. ''You see, I know that, because that is _exactly _what I would do if somebody threatened you right now. I'd go after anyone who wanted to hurt you."

Casey knew this, of course. She knew how far he would go to protect her. There was never a doubt in her mind about that; not anymore.

"So how did that turn out?" Derek asked, a tiny smirk on his face. ''Did I kick his ass? I bet I looked pretty hot doing it to, eh?" he paused, scratching his head. "Wait, you weren't there, were you? Oh well, I'm sure I-"

"Derek," she cut him off, reaching up and wrapping her fingers around his wrist, bringing it back down to their sides gently. He looked at her expectantly, but she merely shook her head at him. His face fell, and she could tell that he had just deflated his ego. He forced a half smile, giving an innocent shrug of the shoulder.

"Alright, so maybe _he_ kicked _my _ass," Derek said, trying to act as though it didn't bother him. "Whatever; I could take him now, I bet. I could take him on anytime, anywhere, and win."

"You _were_ winning." Casey said simply, causing his gaze to meet her's again hopefully. He raised his eyebrows and she rushed on. "According to Sam, you had Shane pinned down and everything, and you were totally kicking his ass."

Derek frowned. Casey found herself pitying the poor boy. First he had missed his hockey game, then Casey had sprung this whole 'wish' thing on him, and now she was confusing the hell out of him. It might have been humorous if the topic wasn't so serious.

"He knifed you, Derek." Casey said, her voice shaking noticeably. She saw Derek's face pale, and he attempted to speak, but nothing came out. "You were winning, and he couldn't stand that, so he fought dirty. Sam called and told me everything, and not too long after I showed up at the hospital, just in time to hear the doctor tell your father that you had .. that you were .."

And then, after five years of unanswered questions and guessing, an alarm went off in Derek's head, and several things suddenly clicked into place at once. The reasoning behind Casey's tears that night at the park, the way she had kissed him, the happiness and relief that had been clear on her features as she had practically tackled him to the ground.

_"You're alive .. you're .. you're .."_

Casey had known at the time that the words had made no sense to Derek, and that he hadn't been able to understand why she couldn't finish her statement. But as she looked into his eyes, she knew that everything was starting to make sense to him now. The countless nightmares that he had ended for her now had a clearer meaning, and her tendency to freak out over the smallest things was finally justifiable. He studied her with fear and with something else, almost like respect. He drew in a sharp breath.

"This really happened, didn't it?" he asked quietly, knowing the answer already. She looked up at him, giving him a crooked smile.

"Took you long enough to catch on." she said, laughing a bit through her tears. But her panic seemed to overcome her amusement after a moment, and she laid her head back down against Derek's chest, crying into his shirt. He wrapped his arms around her and tried his best to comfort her, but she knew that he was in too much shock to be much of a comfort. She caught a glimpse of his face, and she noticed that he looked half frightened to death, yet sympathetic towards his girlfriend, and amazed by everything she had just told him all at once. He kissed the side of her head.

"It's okay." he tried to tell her, knowing that those words, at least, were true. "Whatever caused all of this to happen is in the past. It's not coming back; it's all over, okay? You're never going to have to go back there again. I'm here for you now, and that's all that matters, right? _Right_?"

Casey looked up at him, her hands still clutching at his shirt helplessly. She saw the concern and reassurance in his eyes and she relaxed a bit. She couldn't believe that he was actually accepting what she had told him as the truth . She had doubted that he would ever really believe her, but it was quite clear that he did. She realized then that Derek must have an awful lot of faith in her if he was choosing to believe in this seemingly impossible experience that she was telling him about. She relaxed, knowing that everything would be just fine, as long as she stayed in the world she was in. As long as she had Derek.

"Right." she confirmed, nodding her head at him and sniffing. She wiped away some of her tears on the back of her hand. "You're right, this is all that matters. I'm just glad that you know the truth now."

"I'm glad I do too." he said, sighing and tangling his fingers through her hair gently. He seemed lost in thought for a moment, and, after a second, a look of understanding dawned on his face and he looked downa t her curiously. "Wait a second, is this what that whole .. _thing _back in high school was about? When you got all high maintenance on me?"

She blushed furiously, ashamed of what she had done. She knew she had to be honest though, so she nodded, feeling terribly guilty. He bit his lip and nodded slowly, as though he was still letting everything sink in.

"I figured that you had to be comparing me to _someone_." he said, sounding relieved that the pieces were all starting to fit together. He gave an ironic sort of laugh. "I just never knew that I was competing against myself. No wonder I kept losing; I _am _a pretty tough opponent."

"Derek," she said, rolling her eyes at him. He smirked, and kissed her forehead gently, rubbing small circles on her back to calm her down. "So you actually believe me?" she asked, still shocked that he was being this accepting. He didn't even have to think about it. Not two seconds after the words had left her mouth, he was nodding his head quickly.

"Every word." he confirmed, his voice confident. "I can tell you aren't lying to me, Casey. And besides that, you have everything so .. so detailed. And you couldn't make up all of this business with Shane. I mean .. don't get me wrong; I think this whole thing is absolutely insane. I have no clue how this could have happened. But to answer your question, yes, I definitly believe you. I'm happy to finally know the truth. And I'm unbelieveably sorry for running out on you earlier. It was wrong of me. I know I upset you, and I'm sorry, okay?"

She rather felt as though she didn't need an apology, but she was glad to accept one nonetheless. She nodded, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, assuring him that it was okay.

"I understand, Derek." she assured him, taking him by the hand and leading him towards the bed. They sat down together and she continued. "I only believed it after some solid hard truth too." she explained, remembering how shocked she had been when she had seen her's and Lizzie's transformed bedrooms in the MacDonald-free household. "I probably would have reacted the exact same way if you had told me something like this. It's not exactly something that happens everyday."

"Well sure it is." Derek argued, frowning. She raised her eyebrows at him in confusion, only to have her gaze met with a smirk. "Didn't I tell you about my visit to Candyland last week?"

"You really suck, you know that, right?" she said, rolling her eyes and smacking his chest lightly. He caught her hand and brought it up to his face, kissing it gently. She knew that he was mocking her, but she also knew that he didn't think she was crazy; he really did believe her. He gave a shrug, clearly unmoved by her words.

"I may suck, but you love me anyway." he said rather confidently. He raised an eyebrow. "At least you'd better, for your own sake."

"Oh, poor little me." she said with mock fear in her voice. "I'd better be on the watch, huh? Because I know how long you can stay mad at me for. Ten minutes can be an eternity."

"I could stay mad at you if I really wanted to." Derek said, crossing his arms across his chest defensively. He stared her down as he tried to keep a straight face. The corners of his mouth were twitching a bit, almost curling upwards into a smile. Casey laughed and gave a disbelieving smile.

"Uh-huh," she deadpanned, "Sure you could, Der. I'd go get my stopwatch to time this, but by the time I got back, you'd already have forgiven me."

"You own a stopwatch?" Derek snorted, rolling his eyes. "Loser."

"Softie," Casey shot back, knowing how much her 'nice-guy' comments ticked him off. She constantly told him that he'd gone soft over the years, but he refused to agree with her, even if they both knew that it was the truth. He grimaced.

"Truce?" he offered, extending a hand to her. She pulled her best thinking face, as though this really was a tough decision, before grabbing his hand and shaking it.

Before she even had a chance to pull away, he'd used his grip on her hand to pull her towards him. Predictably, the second she dropped his hand, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. She instantly responded to the kiss, and let each of her hands rest on his arms. When he pulled back, he was smirking at her.

"So tell me," he said, a mischevious gleam in his eyes, "Who's the better kisser?''

"Huh?" Casey questioned, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. After a moment, she understood, and a look of realization dawned upon her features.

"Oh!" she said, grinning. "Did you mean .."

"Me, or the other me." he said with a grin, before putting on a suspicious face. "Wait a second, who did you think I was talking about, huh?"

Casey pretended to look as though she'd been caught, and put on her best guilty face. Derek huffed and looked away, acting as though he believed her. She had to laugh at him as she tugged lightly on his hair and placed a soft kiss against his lips.

"No worries," she assured him, keeping her lips hovering over his. She kissed him one more time. "I haven't been kissing anyone else."

"Yeah well, it had better stay that way." Derek said, pressing his forehead against hers. The smirk crept back onto his face. "You never answered the question though. Who's the better kisser?"

Casey bit her lip, thinking hard.

_"Well," _she started, earning herself a glare from Derek, "You're both exceptionally amazing kissers, but I'd have to go with .. you." she finished, grinning at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"You're complimenting me," he noted, looking cautious, "When you compliment me, you usually want something."

"I just want to put that cute little smile on your face." she said, tweaking the end of his nose with her index finger. He scowled, and rubbed his nose. Casey laughed. "Besides, you deserve to have your ego fluffed every once in a while."

Derek put on a triumphant smile and stood up a little straighter, as though he was proud of being complimented.

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed, nodding. "I _am _a pretty terrific guy, aren't I? And I deserve to be complimented on my _amazing_, wonderful, sparkling personality every once in a-"

"Alright, should I be copying this down?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. He paused, his mouth still hanging open mid-sentence. "You might want to reflect on this little speech later, when you're writing up a resumé or something. You never know."

Derek pouted at her, clearly insulted by her change of heart. Leaning in, she kissed him before he had a chance to get angry with her. He pulled back almost immediately, and she looked at him questioningly, wondering why he had pushed her away. His eyes scanned her body quickly before a smirk crept onto his face once more. She understood then. He was sick of all the teasing kisses. Grabbing his hand, she pulled him down onto the bed with her. He let out a playful growl before pinning her down and capturing her lips with his own.

-

"Do you ever regret it?" he asked her an hour later, as they lay side by side in the darkness.

Casey, who was only half awake, didn't even open her eyes to look up at him.

"Hmm?" she mumbled into his shoulder as his hand tangled through her hair repetitively. She felt him shrug his shoulders.

"The wish." he clarified, his voice sounding louder than usual due to the silence that was enveloping the rest of the apartment. "Do you ever regret making that wish?"

Casey opened her eyes this time, and looked up at him. He was watching her with a mixed look of apprehension and curiosity. She looked down again, and let her fingers trace small circles on his bare chest. She had asked herself that question many times before. Her answer always seemed to be a bit mixed up, but she knew why.

"Sort of." she admitted. She looked up to see a look of fear playing on his face. His whole body stiffened, and he tried to pull away from her. Realizing what he must be thinking, she grabbed his arm to keep him in place.

"Derek, stop." she said, locking her gaze with his. His eyes were filled with fear, but he didn't look away.

"I didn't mean it like that." she assured him truthfully. Some of the fear was replaced by hope, and he relaxed a little bit. "I don't regret the way things turned out, not at all."

His whole body calmed down, and he settled back down against her, resuming the stroking of her hair. Laying her head back onto his shoulder, she thought hard.

"I don't regret it much, really." she said, trying to explain how she felt in the best way possible. "It's just that I hate remembering what happened to you in the end."

She paused, a thought suddenly occuring to her. He didn't speak during her silence, wanting to allow her the right to continue, which she did.

"On second thought, maybe it's a .. a good thing that it turned out like that." she said slowly, uncertainty lacing her voice. He looked down at her, clearly confused. Realizing that she probably sounded completely sadistic right about now, she rushed on.

"I think that what happened to you made me appreciate you a lot more than I did before." she explained, almost as much to herself as to Derek. He bit his lip and nodded.

"Maybe you're right." he said, before pulling her closer in a one armed embrace, and kissing her temple.

"Of course I'm right," she said softly , with a hint of laughter in her voice. "I'm always right, remember?"

Derek groaned and rolled his eyes, but he chose not to comment, knowing that she was right about always being right; for the most part anyway. He yawned and rolled onto his side to face Casey. He reached out with his hand and brushed his hand across her cheek gently, causing her eyes to close at his touch.

"Did you at least learn something from this whole ordeal?" he asked curiously, fatigue starting to take control of him. He struggled to keep his eyes open as he waited for her answer. She didn't say anything at first. She opened up her eyes and looked into his, trying to think of the best way to answer that. She _had _learned something, of course. She had learned a lot of things from the wish. She had learned to appreciate Derek for who he was, although that had taken some work. She had learned that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. She didn't want to go into a terribly long explanation though. Derek was half asleep as it was. Finally, she smiled at Derek, coming to the best conclusion she could summon up.

"I guess I did learn a thing or two," she started, her voice almost below a whisper. It didn't matter; she knew that Derek could hear her. He gave a nod to show her that he was listening, and she continued.

"I'm happy with the way things turned out, but I think I've learned that some things in life are better left untouched." she said, letting the words pour from her mouth without even thinking about them. "I mean, in this case, everything worked out, but I wouldn't make the same mistake twice. If I hadn't of gotten back, I would've been stuck in that hell, and it would have been because I tried to change things. I lucked out this time, but I'm never going to do something like that again."

Derek shifted, wrapping his arm around Casey's waist in a lazy sort of way. His eyes fluttered closed, and a half smile appeared on his lips.

"Mmm, you're right," he murmered, clearly half asleep. "Some things _are _better left untouched."

Casey had a pretty good feeling that Derek, whose eyes were shut at this point, didn't have the faintest idea what he was saying anymore, but she knew that he'd heard her. And she knew that he had understood what she meant by it. She heard a faint sigh from Derek, and she knew then that he was asleep. Knowing that the conversation was clearly over, she smiled and closed her own eyes, laying her head down against Derek's shoulder. She'd told him the truth, and he was still with her. Maybe she'd been stupid not to tell him all along. It was a sign of his trust in her that he'd believed her, instead of labelling her as insane, or as a liar, and ditching her.

Maybe some things w_ere _better left untouched or unsaid, but sometimes, you don't know until you try.

**

* * *

That concludes this little storyline! I'll be writing more Dasey, but this story is done with :) I sort of figured that Derek trusts Casey enough to believe her if he seen her getting upset over it, but I definitly don't see him accepting it right away. Do me the kindness one more time and review this! And if you've read this one and it's two predecessors, then thank you! You guys are awesome! Hope you enjoyed it:)**


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